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As the global population grows, the demand for food increases and the planet often bears the brunt. The dairy industry is notoriously resource-intensive; however, sustainable technologies such as UV light can replace traditional pasteurisation methods. Marianne Andersen, PR specialist at Lyras, told FoodBev more about a UV light-powered pasteurisation process – known as raslysation – and how it can reduce energy consumption while maintaining product quality. The global food industry takes a heavy toll on the planet. The demand for dairy, in particular, has increased at a rapid rate worldwide, in large part due to population growth and rising incomes. This increased demand puts growing pressure on natural resources such as freshwater and energy needed for manufacturing raw milk into high-quality and great-tasting products. Replace guilty conscience with light Does this mean that we should reduce the consumption of dairy products in order to spare resources? Fortunately, we don’t have to. Rather than replacing milk or cheese, which are healthy and highly nutritional foods, we can instead replace processing methods like pasteurisation with more sustainable technology. Pasteurisation is a 160-year-old method that has not kept up with the prevailing standards of sustainable processing. Today, there are much more sustainable choices: UV light, for example, has been used for inactivating germs in transparent liquids for more than 100 years. Now, with the development of UV technology, it is possible to do the same in opaque liquids. Raslysation is a UV-based, non-thermal treatment for liquids, which can be implemented in place of a conventional pasteurisation plant or microfiltration system. Because raslysation is based on UV rather than heat, the treatment leaves characteristics such as taste, colour, structure and proteins unaltered while achieving the same microbial inactivation. The tech uses a UV light source that provides a specific wavelength. The liquid is directed past the light source in a controlled movement, illuminating all parts of the liquid. This inactivates bacteria and other microorganisms. With more sustainable technology that utilises UV instead of heat, dairies can save between 60 and 90% of the energy and 60 to 80% of the water that traditional pasteurisation methods would otherwise require. This paves the way for major energy and carbon dioxide savings in dairy production lines worldwide – especially important given the continually rising energy prices we’ve seen over recent years.

Traditional pasteurisation consumes a lot of energy During the conventional pasteurisation process, significant energy is needed to heat liquids to relatively high temperatures to kill bacteria, and then almost as much is needed to rapidly cool them to ensure no lasting damage is done to the nutritional makeup of the product. Two reasons to cut down on traditional pasteurisation For years, the industry has focused on reducing its large energy consumption, as well as cutting down on CO2 emissions from heating, heat treatment, drying and cooling. The incentive for reducing dairy energy consumption is twofold: 1) Environmentally, the use of grid-sourced electricity, liquid fossil energy and natural gas on dairy farms have a related greenhouse gas intensity with negative environmental impact. 2) Economically, the ongoing energy crisis, and the resulting risk of losing business due to unstable prices and supplies, have made the industry yearn for energy-efficient technologies to help improve energy independence and minimise energy usage. Tired of waiting As the green transition of the dairy industry is complicated, costly and long overdue, consumers are starting to take matters into their own hands by giving up or drastically reducing their consumption of dairy products to relieve climate impact. The prospect of renouncing aspects like fossil fuels and animal-derived foods has become a regular fixture in the global climate debate. From a consumer perspective, dairy enthusiasts have the right to not feel guilty about how their products are farmed, but in terms of dairy businesses, creating more sustainable methods of production should always be a priority to reduce waste, cut energy costs and continue to make changes that best help the overall push towards net zero being adopted across all industry sectors. Great savings potential Larger dairy production lines will have significantly greater potential to reduce their energy consumption by switching to these solutions than smaller dairy farms with lower energy consumption. The implementation of less energy-intensive and more electricity-reliant technologies could well be part of the solution as it paves the way for productions based entirely on renewable energy. UV light removes pathogens from liquid products – not just water, but also when applied to dairy production. In comparison to heated solutions, a UV light-powered process can reduce energy consumption, while maintaining – if not heightening – end-product quality.

High-technology dairy production substitutes can lead to not only relatively short returns on investment, but also significantly lower operation costs through reduced energy and water consumption, increased operational hours, and overall, less cleaning and maintenance needed. An improved, higher quality end-product provides benefits for both consumers and businesses. A choice for the industry The industry now has a choice: give up on dairy as we know it and innovate in novel non-animal source foods, such as alt-milks made from soy and wheat or cell-based technology – or renew the very ways we produce existing dairy products and allow consumers to enjoy them with a clean conscience. If the dairy, and food industry in general, indeed manages to transition to these improved production practises, greenhouse gas emissions per company will decrease rapidly – a significant impact if adopted industry-wide. The result is a future in which the dairy industry remains relevant on supermarket shelves and in consumers’ minds. They will find that they won’t have to give up as much as they thought.